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At press time, the father of cryptocurrencies has incurred a $200 rise and is now trading for roughly $6,300. This marks some good news for investors and traders, who up to this point, have probably lost some serious cash after bitcoin fell by over $1,500 in just the last two weeks.

In early June, the currency was trading for roughly $7,600, where it hovered for some time. Unfortunately, while many traders were waiting for $8,000 next, bitcoin had other plans, and decided to take a little trip down south – all the way to $6,100, where it has been trading at for the last 72 hours.

According to Fortune Magazine, the bitcoin hype has come to a screeching halt thanks to new reports that the price was subject to mass manipulation through trading schemes that involved tying bitcoin to Tether. This ultimately hurt investor trust, and caused many to wonder if they were involved in the right playing field. From there, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has placed restrictions on as many as six separate cryptocurrency trading platforms, and requested that they boost their security protocols after noticing weaknesses in their infrastructures.

However, it appears other problems have come about in the forms of phony initial coin offerings (ICOs) and scams, along with imposing regulation from organizations like the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In addition, several new altcoins and digital assets have entered the frame over the last 12 months to ultimately take focus and attention away from bitcoin, thereby preventing it from recovering appropriately.

According to e-Toro analyst Matthew Newton, however, the price drops witnessed amongst most major forms of crypto (including bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin) are to be expected through such a “nascent market.”

“The reality is that emerging technologies carrying radically new ideas will always see swings in their value,” he explained in a recent interview. “Market adjustments, as we have seen over the past months, can help to stabilize prices and move the industry towards a more robust, sophisticated regime. This is good for the long-term future of blockchain and [cryptocurrencies], giving the industry time to develop.”

At press time, bitcoin is up by almost 150 percent since this time last year, and it is more than ten times more valuable than where it stood in June of 2016. This is something to be positive about, though it is difficult when one considers where bitcoin was last December, and that near $20,000 price will always be in the back of investors’ heads.

When will bitcoin hit this position again? How long will it take? Why is so much time needed to recover? These are probably only a fraction of the questions running through traders’ minds, and considering we’re on the verge of entering July – meaning we’ll soon be in the second half of 2018 – the many predictions running rampant about bitcoin’s end-of-the-year prices are a little difficult to swallow, but as we’ve seen in the past, bitcoin’s price can drop or fall at a moment’s notice. Thus, $25,000 – $60,000 may be easier to fathom in that context.

Leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is under heavy criticism by its users for being underprepared to handle increasing demand.

Coinbase Not Ready For Its Own Success

The criticism was documented by a five-month Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process, which comprised a total of 134 pages of complaints filed by users of the exchange with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Mashableobtained the complaints received by the SEC and the California Department of Business Oversight filed by users of the leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange. Widespread frustration with the platform is evident as customer service fails across the board.

However, this is not the first time Coinbase is under the public’s crosshair. In December, traders accused Coinbase of “insider trading” following events of the failed Bitcoin Cash (BCH) launch on GDAX. In March, the exchange was also hit with a class-action lawsuit for both violating California’s Unclaimed Property Law and conducting unlawful and unfair business practices.

Instead of painting the picture of a leader in the cryptocurrency exchange industry, the documents reveal Coinbase as a company that is unable to handle its own success.

A recurring theme in most of the complaints is the notable difficulty for people accessing their funds due to various problems. Some have been locked out of their accounts while others faced major roadblocks when trying to transfer funds between different wallets.

Furthermore, to say customer service is slow to respond is an understatement according to user complaints. People are reportedly frustrated with their funds being lost along the way as Coinbase support teams fail to react or provide reasonable explanations. One of the complaints is particularly alarming:

I have sent 17,023.00 from my Coinbase account to another Coinbase account on 12.21.2017. The other Coinbase account never received the funds as of 1/16/2018. I have contacted Coinbase over 7 times and all they say is that they have so many issues, they will get back to me and it is been a month.

The same customer shared his concern that he’s lost $5,000 USD as a result of this event and made allegations that “the company is holding my funds to make money on top of my investment.”

Reading the complaints reveals a troubling pattern of customers who claim losing thousands of dollars because of the alleged mismanagement of the cryptocurrency exchange.

Questionable Explanations

Coinbase spokesperson attributed the existing issues to the booming demand and rapid growth.

“In 2017, the cryptocurrency space experienced a profound uptick in mainstream awareness and growth,” explained the spokesperson.” As part of that, consumer demand for our services increased by 40x and we experienced transaction volumes in November and December of that year that grew by 295 percent.”

The spokesperson added that the company improved its customer service substantially by increasing the support team by more than 150 percent and reducing the average time to first response to below ten hours for more than 95 percent of the incoming queries.

While it sounds like a major improvement, it’s clear that Coinbase has quite a lot of work to do in order to regain the goodwill and the trust of its users.

Yet, the company doesn’t seem particularly phased as it proclaimed itself to be a “self-sustaining $8 billion dollar company” back in May. What’s more, it recently announced plans to become a fully SEC-regulated broker-dealer after having acquired a financial services company.

Huobi, the world’s fourth largest crypto exchange by daily trade volumes, has appointed a CEO for its newly created “strategic partner” trading platform in the U.S., according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph June 25.

Frank Fu has been chosen as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Huobi’s new U.S.-based digital assets marketplace, which was established via a San Francisco-headquartered company called HBUS earlier this month.

Prior to joining HBUS, Fu worked at Meitu, Inc., a Chinese tech company specialising in mobile video and photography. At Meitu, he held several executive positions, including managing director of Meitu Global and international investment, leading a team whose work reportedly generated “a combined growth of 500 million new mobile subscribers globally.”

Fu has also notably founded several blockchain mobile consumer apps and digital media startups in the US and Asia, according to the press release.

Fu will be speaking at the Blockchain Connect Conference in San Jose tomorrow, June 26, delivering a keynote presentation on the ‘Global Blockchain Industry and Prospects’.

Huobi, which is headquartered in Singapore, has been actively pursuing its overseas expansion this year. Alongside its HBUS U.S. venture, the exchange launched a South Korean subsidiary this spring, as well as revealing plans to open an office in London.

Last week, Cointelegraph reported on Bloomberg Terminal’s decision to list Huobi’s recently-launched Cryptocurrency Index, dubbed ‘Huobi 10,’ which tracks the performance of the top 10 traded digital assets on its trading platform.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, Huobi is currently seeing about $852 million in trades over the 24-hour period. It is now ranked fourth largest crypto exchange globally, ceding its formerly held third place to CoinBene.

Pharmaceuticals giant Merck is seeking a patent for a way to use blockchain in order to track goods as they move through the supply chain.

Published last Thursday and submitted in December 2016, the patent application outlines a method by which a blockchain could be used to store information about a physical object – in this case, a single product – and receives updates as it moves onward from its point of origin. That distributed network could then be used to store information verifying the authenticity of the item.

In other words, the main point here is anti-counterfeiting. Merck already maintains internal processes for eliminating fake goods that move through its systems, and the proposed patent seems as if it would fit into those wider efforts.

Merck notes in its filing that the technology "enables a secure, reliable storage of the reading results with very high data integrity, such that it is essentially impossible to manipulate or erase or otherwise taper [sic] with or lose such data, e.g. due to unintended or deliberate deletion or due to data corruption."

The pharmaceuritcals firm goes on to explain:

"Furthermore, the stored information can be accessed wherever access to the blockchain is available. This allows for a safe and distributed storage and access to the stored reading results, e.g. for integrity verification purposes such as checking whether a supplier of a product being marked with a composite security marking, as described herein, was in fact the originator of the product, or not."

Whether Merck will move to "put pills on the blockchain" remains to be seen, but the company has pursued a number of initiatives to date within the technology space.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

Spain's securities markets watchdog and a group of financial institutions including Banco Santander have completed a blockchain pilot aimed at testing the tech for registering stock warrant issuances.

The year-long Fast Track Listing (FTL) project saw participation from the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) as well as banks such as Banco Santander, BBVA, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, Commerzbank and Société Générale.

The idea is that shared databases can be used to more effectively register information about the issuance of warrants – contracts bearing the right to purchase new shares at a certain price before they expire – and filter that data to all parties. According to Banco Santander, the pilot showed that the time to register a warrant issuance was cut by more than 70 percent using the pilot platform.

Initial results from the test were promising, the group indicated, setting the stage for further proofs-of-concept around the technology.

"After obtaining such good results, CNMV has decided to continue exploring the possible uses of this technology in its processes and carry on with the project. BME and all the national warrant issuers (BBVA, Caixabank and Banco Santander), as well as international warrant issuers (BNP Paribas, Commerzbank and Société Générale), are also actively contributing to this project," according to statements.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release.

It is no secret that the recent volatility in the market has been extreme with Bitcoin and Ethereum prices in freefall. Market participants are suffering losses but also given the opportunity to invest at lower prices to gain if the market pulls up.

Cryptocurrency investor Brian Kelly, states on CCN “Referring back to the basic rule of investing, Kelly noted that during a period in which the market is extremely bullish and optimistic, it is better to sell and eye a timely opportunity to enter and when the market is overly pessimistic, it is wise to look for a position to enter.”

Bitcoin originally was supposed to offer an efficient means of transferring money over the internet and is controlled by a decentralized network with a transparent set of rules, thus presenting an alternative to central bank controlled fiat money. Market participants changed from geeks and believers in Blockchain to funds and investors looking to make profit with the uptrend volatile market. This led people to ignore the primary function of Bitcoin which was to efficiently transfer money over the internet with no control from central banks.

This is affecting the whole markets including the new ICOs and tokens. New ICOs and tokens are simply being invested in to sell once listed and gain whatever discount rate the ICO is offering. Most of the time these tokens are tied to the price volatility and movement of Bitcoin and Ethereum. INGOT Coin has been studying the market carefully in order to develop in ways that separated from Bitcoin and Ethereum as well as their price volatility

INGOT Coin intends to foster building an interconnected global community of trust and cooperation on which the basis of honesty and transparency between its members exist. INGOT is well on its way in making a breakthrough in Crypto & financial markets by presenting a revolutionary gateway towards an all-inclusive environment. The vision and aim of INGOT is to provide the community with real Utility value whether Bitcoin was at a new low or high. To achieve that aim INGOT has partnered with multiple ICOs in order to provide numerous Utilities with an access from one platform. INGOT also does not base their coin on Ethereum or Bitcoin but rather on USD value.

The ICOs are all in different industries from Health to Financial services and E-commerce to Real Estate. INGOT Coin, GMEX-Group, BolttCoin, Modern Finance Chain (MFChain), SwachhCoin, Black.Insure, PlaceToRent (PTRT), Bineuro and Stella have all formed a unified front under one alliance. The group of ICOs along with GMEX plan to establish a single platform that will allow all their communities to use their utilities simultaneously. Furthermore, plans of enabling different discounts among each one of the ICOs is being discussed in order to give edge to all participants.

Providing all those different Utilities through one gateway will provide true value to the tokens and the end users. In giving real utility to different tokens and access from one point it is clear that the latter will be the value of the tokens and not the price and volatility of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

When cryptos became widely popular, central banks were seriously considering issuing their own digital currencies. However, the interest has slowly waned as central banks begin to seriously consider the implications such currencies would have on financial stability. This is according to an alternate member of the Swiss National Bank’s governing body, Thomas Moser. In his view, it has now become a waiting game in which everyone is waiting for someone else to make the first move. While issuing digital currencies has some advantages for central banks, they pose huge risks which outweigh the benefits. In the long term, central banks will probably issue digital currencies, but for now, it’s unlikely that any central bank will take the risk, Moser stated.

Too Many Rough Edges

Initially, there was a lot of interest in cryptos as everyone considered the implications they would have on the traditional financial system. Hailed as the long-awaited solution to the challenges that had ailed the sector for decades, cryptos were being researched by most central banks as they sought to be on the front line in the application of digital currencies. However, this interest is slowly waning as regulators consider the implications such moves would have on financial stability. Speaking to Business Insider during the Crypto Valley Conference held in the Swiss crypto town of Zug, Moser explained:

The whole technical issue, which excited everyone, really takes second place to this conceptual policy issue. The mood now is: everyone is monitoring it, some are experimenting with it, heavily, but I think everyone is waiting for someone else to do it first so we can.

Digital currencies are effective when the prices rise as people’s holdings multiply. The challenge arises when the value declines and people’s holdings begin to shrink, he said. This therefore calls for well-thought-out monetary policies. The process is altogether very complicated, he explained.

You basically compete with bank accounts when you issue digital central bank money. You have to think through how you would do monetary policy, how the transmission channel is changing; it’s just very complicated.

Nevertheless, Moser still believes that in the long term, central banks will issue their own digital currencies even though the potential risks are quite significant. The Swiss national bank is, however, neutral on the subject in the meantime as it monitors and awaits more research and development in the industry.

Central bank digital currencies have attracted interest from many countries seeking to take advantage of digital currencies to power the traditional financial system. The Central Bank of the Bahamas is the latest to warm up to digital currencies, with the country’s finance minister saying that they are the way forward in this era of governance. In his speech at the Bahamas Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference, the minister said that CBDCs are especially crucial to Bahamians as the island has seen many commercial banks downsize and close up shop, leaving many residents without access to banking services. CBDCs are especially advantageous as they give the government the ability to offer banking services digitally, a service it has been working to provide its citizens as transportation to major towns to access banking services is an inconvenience for many.

Stablecoin Tether (USDT), which is allegedly backed 1:1 by the US dollar, has issued 250 million more tokens today, June 25, according to data from Omni Explorer.

At the end of March, Tether had released 300 million tokens, leading to a small price increase for Bitcoin (BTC). The move also was met with backlash from critics on Twitter about the controversy surrounding the stablecoin’s lack of an official public audit to confirm the legitimacy of its claims to be backed by fiat.

More recently, Tether had made the news when a new study compiled by the University of Texas suggested that the coin had been behind Bitcoin price manipulation in 2017, a claim that Tether’s CEO has denied.

Litecoin (LTC) founder Charlie Lee tweeted today that the 250 million USDT issuance can be compared to said sum in dollars being deposited to a cryptocurrency exchange – meaning that it does not necessarily preclude an immediate price jump that would occur when it is used to buy crypto:

Generally, this has been a precursor of price going up. Tether gets printed when people deposit USD and get USDT back. This USDT will then be used to buy crypto. This is similar to someone depositing $250MM to exchanges. Of course, that doesn't mean they will buy right away. DYOR https://t.co/zg2PEjGohv

Following such places as Quebec and New York, the latest location in North America to attract large Bitcoin mining operations with a cheap supply of electricity is Colorado Springs. A miner has paid $13 million to convert an abandoned Intel chip manufacturing complex into an industrial mining farm.

New 85,000 Square Feet Mining Operation

3G Venture II, a California-based company, has paid $13 million for a big chuck of an abandoned Intel chip manufacturing complex at Garden of the Gods Road in Colorado. The owner of the company, John Chen from Los Angeles, reportedly plans to use the facility to mine bitcoin. The deal includes 30 acres and over 700,000 square feet in several buildings, with bitcoin mining planned for three buildings, totaling about 85,000 square feet, and the rest planned to be leased to others.

Michael Palmer, a broker with Quantum Commercial Group who marketed the real estate, revealed that the electricity network installed for Intel’s needs was especially alluring for the miner. The complex includes an on-site substation, two separate power feeds, and the new owner also asked Colorado Springs Utilities to increase capacity to the site, he said. Besides that, the location’s cheap energy prices have long attracted companies to enter the area, including for establishing data centers by Progressive Insurance, FedEx and Walmart, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

One Mining Farm Is Enough?

Earlier this month we reported about a town in New York that welcomed a new giant mining facility at a former aluminum smelting plant. The main reason for that was the promise of over 150 jobs that were estimated to be added to the local economy as a result of the opening of the facility. However, it appears that there is less enthusiasm about the new industry in Colorado Springs as they don’t expect it to create many jobs.

Dirk Draper, president and CEO of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce & EDC, said the group didn’t seek out the miner, and instead just cooperated with him after he showed interest in the Intel complex. Moreover, the Chamber & EDC doesn’t plan to attract more such companies, he said. “While it is beneficial for some segments of the community to have the large base power users, and we understand that and are supportive of it, our focus is more on the employment side,” Draper explained.

Can bitcoin mining bring back manufacturing jobs to the US? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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The blockchain industry has been attracting the best minds from some of the most renowned institutions in the world. Whether to launch their own startups or join the boards of existing ones, these high-ranking executives have left their lucrative posts with the firm conviction that blockchain technology is the future. Two former GoDaddy executives are just the latest to make the switch to launch Celo, a blockchain-based platform for fast, secure and cost-effective mobile payments. Celo promises to make mobile, blockchain-powered payments as easy as sending texts. The startup has received the backing of some of the most renowned venture capital firms and individuals including the CEO of Twitter and Square, Jack Dorsey.

Fighting the Monopolization of the Internet

Like many other blockchain enthusiasts, the founders of Celo are led by a burning desire to fight for the little man. In an age where giant tech and internet companies have taken over and control the market unchecked, blockchain is looked at by many as the best avenue to fight this monopolization. And according to the two, Marek Olszewski and Rene Reinsberg, Celo will do just that.

To serve its users, Celo will use a distributed ledger to link phone numbers to public encryption keys. This is the easy part, however, as the biggest challenge facing crypto payments is the high volatility of most crypto assets which makes many merchants hesitant to use them. For this, Celo will develop a stablecoin whose value will be attached to a non-volatile asset such as the U.S dollar. Stablecoins are looked at as a solution to the volatility that has become a defining characteristic of this industry. Tether is the most renowned and highest-valued stablecoin, but the Celo team says it will develop its own stablecoin. This will make it possible for users to make and receive payments without the fear that the sum sent will be significantly different from the sum received.

Touting itself as a social payment platform, Celo targets the emerging markets in which financial products are not especially widespread. This is why the platform will first be rolled out on Android phones, which are more popular in emerging markets, Olszewski said in a statement. Celo will also give its users the opportunity to earn cryptos on any Android phone. While most cryptos require sophisticated and expensive equipment to mine, Celo will reward its users with cryptos for powering its phone verification service using their excess phone capacity.

The Celo team believes that the approach it has taken is the best for its target market, with Reinsberg saying that it’s shock-resistant and that the results have been impressive so far. However, the approach is not without its risks, he admits, with a black swan event being among the possible challenges. A black swan event is an occurrence that’s completely unforeseen and is beyond what is expected of a situation. The team is prepared for this and has a number of countermeasures in place, Reinsberg stated.

Celo is backed by some renowned figures, one of whom is the founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and CEO of both Twitter and Square, is also among the backers, as are Dick Parsons and Andrew Kortina, the former Citigroup chairman and Venmo co-founder, respectively. Institutional backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase, and PolyChain Capital.

The mainstream media narrative that Bitcoin is a “ponzi scheme” and bagholders are selling is false, new data showing Bitcoin user ‘hodl’ behavior claims.

Whales Are ‘Hodling’

The findings, uploaded to Twitter by commentator and researcher BambouClub June 25, focuses on so-called ‘Bitcoin days destroyed’ (BDD) as a variable by which to judge investor sentiment, which he explains is “totally unaffected” by bitcoin price 00.

In line with other recent research pieces, BDD trends from Bitcoin’s creation in 2009 to the present day demonstrate that more Bitcoin holders are storing, rather than trading or selling, their bitcoins.

The trend runs contrary to opinions in many mainstream news media pieces, which claim Bitcoin is a “bubble” or has had its halcyon age and will now only disappoint – or even defraud – investors.

“…BDD fell sharply in Jan ’18 and has fallen throughout 2018. This does NOT fit the narrative that whales are cutting and running for the exit, selling to noobs. Whales are in fact HODLING,” BambouClub summarized.

The media narrative in recent months is that Bitcoin is a ponzi that will inevitably collapse and that Bitcoin whales are heading for the exit and have been selling to 'greater fools' . 1/ pic.twitter.com/1aSE6zC4th

The hacking of South Korea’s largest exchange Bithumb last week added to the pressure, with various publications choosing specifically to highlight the episode as an implication of the risks involved in purchasing cryptocurrency.

On the topic of Bitcoin price behavior, BambouClub denied market manipulation, this returning as a topic of debate last week after markets fell despite Mt. Gox trustees confirming no more mass sell-offs of Bitcoin would occur. These had previously appeared to drive prices downwards.